CHICAGO. Nano products are all the rage, even in food science. Here, at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting, on July 18, scientists described dramatic success in fighting food-poisoning bacteria by doctoring foods or their packaging with microbe-killing nanoparticles – sometimes along with natural anti-bacterial agents.

The nano of interest: Zinc oxide. When particles of this compound are very small, they exhibit properties not seen with bigger ones. Specifically, they appea...